Discover The Office of Mr. Moto: An Amazing Hidden Sushi Speakeasy in NYC

The Office of Mr. Moto is the name behind one of Manhattan’s most mysterious dinner tables, and it is the latest stop for Peloton instructor Adrian Williams to feature in his newsletter, Great Things Take Time.

What Is Great Things Take Time?

Adrian Williams’ weekly newsletter and YouTube series was named for advice his grandmother once gave him: never give up, because great things take time. Each edition pairs a short newsletter with a longer video conversation, where Adrian sits down with founders, chefs, and creatives to learn the real story behind their work. He has used the series to spotlight people who built something with patience and intention, including Chef Nasim Alikhani of Sofreh, the celebrated Persian restaurant in Brooklyn that took her decades to open. Restaurants come up often in Adrian’s world, and the ones he returns to tend to share a theme: real history, real craft, and a story worth telling.

Finding Mr. Moto’s Secret Entrance

This time, Adrian heads to the East Village to meet with Chef-partner Tomo at The Office of Mr. Moto, an omakase restaurant tucked behind an unmarked storefront. There is no sign and no host stand waiting outside. Guests receive a coded letter before their reservation, and that code gets entered into a Victorian era mailbox mounted by the door. Only then does the window turn from opaque to clear, letting guests step inside. Adrian admits that on his first visit, he could not even find where he was supposed to go, which is exactly the point.

Inside the Office of Mr. Moto

Once inside, the restaurant doubles as a private museum. The story goes that Mr. Moto was a fictional gourmand and art collector who sailed to Japan in 1853 aboard the USS Susquehanna, part of Commodore Perry’s expedition. The dining room is filled with artifacts from that era, including maps, pottery, masks, and a model ship collected along the way. Chef Tomo describes Mr. Moto himself as a kind of Japanese 007, secretive by design, and guests are invited to come find out his secrets for themselves. After the meal, diners head downstairs to The Library, a speakeasy lounge with leather sofas and a self playing piano.

What Is Omakase Sushi?

Omakase is a Japanese phrase that roughly translates to “I’ll leave it up to you.” Instead of ordering from a menu, diners place their trust entirely in the chef, who selects and serves each course based on what is freshest that day. There is no picking and choosing, no substitutions, just a sequence of small plates built around the best ingredients available. At The Office of Mr. Moto, that trust takes the shape of a traditional Edomae-style omakase, with each course tied to a different period of Japanese history. Guests do not even see the lineup until after the meal, when it arrives printed on a card. It turns dinner into a guided story, course by course, led entirely by the chef.

The Food, Made with Patience

The restaurant seats only twelve, and Chef-partner Tomo, who trained in Tokyo and worked his way up from dishwasher to sushi chef in the traditional Japanese style, treats every piece with the same care. Fish arrives straight from Japan, sourced through relationships he has built since going independent in 2016, and the menu shifts with the seasons. Adrian called it a labor of love when seeing the patience and prep behind each piece of nigiri. He watched Master Chef Daiki break down a whole mackerel with a precision that takes years to build. What looks effortless on camera took a chef an hour to do when first learning. For master chefs it takes two minutes.

Why Mr. Moto Is Worth the Mystery

What makes Mr. Moto stand out is not just the puzzle at the door. It is the care behind every plate, the history built into the walls, and a chef who treats twelve seats like the most important room in the city. For anyone chasing a meal with a story, this is one worth tracking down. Adrian is a repeat diner and obviously thinks this a pretty special place. Reservations are a must!

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